In a print head for an ink jet printer when loaded with ink or purged of ink by sucking ink through a head surface, ink adheres to the head surface. Accordingly, it is customary to wipe the head surface of the print head from time to time with a wiping apparatus attached to the ink jet printer.
In such a wiping apparatus, if ink adhering to the blade after wiping is left as it is, there is a fear that ink made high in viscosity or contaminants adhering together with ink which move to the head surface of the print head come to clog a nozzle.
In order to prevent this, it is customary that the blade which has wiped the head surface of the print head is flushed with a cleaning liquid from a nozzle and the cleaning liquid that adheres to the blade is wiped off by a wiping member (see, e.g., JP P 2005-319654 A). It is also customary that the blade after its wiping operation is immersed in a cleaning liquid for washing and then dried by a drying means (see, e.g., JP P H10-95125 A).
These conventional apparatuses have the problem that below the print head, they are exposed to the surroundings so that the cleaning liquid comes to be scattered into the environment. Especially in the former apparatus of the prior art in which the cleaning liquid is flushed from the nozzle and the liquid wiping is performed by a rotating wiping roll, there is the problem of scattering of the cleaning liquid. In the latter apparatus of the prior art, the drying efficiency was poor since the liquid is drawn and dried by the suction force of a suction pump. Furthermore, in both these apparatus, there was a fear that contaminants may adhere to the blade while not in use.
With the foregoing taken into account, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wiping apparatus for a print head which prevents scattering of a cleaning liquid when cleaning, allows drying after cleaning efficiently and prevents contaminants from adhering to the blade while not in use.